In the last of two meetings, the Bruins (36-16-3) go head to head with the St. Louis Blues (37-12-6), the team that arguably has the most similar playing style to us, in St. Louis tonight. This game could also very well be a preview of games to come in the playoffs.

With the Olympics beginning tonight, tonight's game will be the second to last game played before the break. The Bruins are going without Zdeno Chara in tonight's game, as he left the team early to carry the flag for Slovakia in tomorrow's opening ceremony. This leaves our defense severely weakened against the Blues, a great offensive hockey team. I honestly have no clue what our defensive pairings are going to look like tonight. But I know one thing for sure: if tonight is anything like the last time we saw the Blues, it should be a great game.

Bruins Projected Lines

Team Stats

Team: The Blues have kept up their relative dominance in the West since the last time we saw in November. They're coming into this game after a 5-4 overtime loss to the Senators on Tuesday. The Blues are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games and are currently second in the Central Division with a whopping 80 points.They have an unbelievable +59 goal differential with 3.33 GF/game (2nd overall) and 2.31 GA/game (3rd overall). Their power play is absolutely absurd with a 23% conversion rate (2nd overall) and their penalty kill is also pretty stellar with 84.9% success rate (5th overall).

Players: The Blues are an absolute offensive powerhouse this season. 21 of their players have a positive rating on the ice ranging from Reave's +1 to Schwartz's +21. The other three players range from even to Paajarvi's -4. Not surprisingly, Alexander Steen leads the team with 45 points (33rd overall) and with 27 goals (10 overall).

Goalie: Halak will get the nod in net tonight. He has played in 38 games with a 23-8-4 record. He has a 2.27 GAA (21st overall) and a .914 SV% (38th overall).

Of Note: Schwartz has two goals and and 5 assists in his last nine games. Backes has three goals in his last 5 games.

Team: We're coming into this game after a glorious 3-1 win against the Canucks and with a 7-2-1 record in our last 10 games. We're first in Atlantic Division with 75 points. We have a +47 goal differential with an average of 2.13 GA/game (still 2nd in the league) and an average of 3.02 GF/game (5th in the league). Our penalty kill is going to need to come up huge tonight with an 83.0% success rate (12th overall). Our power play is going to be less of an issue tonight with a 20.8% conversion rate (6th overall).

Players: 18 of our guys have positive ratings ranging from Miller's +3 to Boychuk's +24. The others range from even to Kelly's -1. Krejci leads the team with 47 points (29th in the league) while Reilly Smith leads the team with 18 goals (44th in the league).

Goalie: Tuukka Rask will get the start tonight. He's played in 42 games with an 25-13-3 record. He has a 2.09 GAA (12th in the league) and a .929 SV% (9th in the league).

Of Note: Iginla has 11 points and a +9 rating in his past 6 games. Milan Lucic has 9 points in his last 7 games while Krejci has points in 4 of 6 games.